What does it mean to pray "your kingdom come"?  Brad Young, in his book on the Lord's Prayer, states: Probably no other aspect of Jesus teaching has been so greatly misunderstood as the kingdom of heaven. Certainly, no other theme...

Imagine your job included union membership, which not only entailed paying dues, but also mandatory attendance at union meetings.  Not only did you discuss and vote on issues, but you were called to worship the "god" of the union.  An...

Scripture: Philippians 1:1-2. 

Compromise. Jesus — specifically the Jesus who in John’s vision wielded a sharp, double-edged sword — saw compromise as a growing threat for the church in Pergamum. Not that the city of Pergamum was subtle. Jesus calls it “Satan’s throne” for a...

Jesus, as we heard last week, teaches us is to pray to “Our Father,” a reminder of our intimate relationship with God, as well as his promise to care for us as children. Now we turn to a promise of our own: “hallowed be your name” Do we need to...

If love is the first mark of the Christian church — as we saw in last week’s letter to Ephesus —suffering is the next mark. It proves the genuineness of one’s love for Christ. Now he comes to them, described with words from the previous vision:...

To better understand how and what Jesus is teaching us to pray, it helps to explore Jewish aspects of prayer. It starts with the opening, which in Hebrew would be: Avinu shebashamayim (our Father in the heavens). This is a very Jewish concept, ...

Revelation 2:1-7 Jesus Christ is pictured walking among the lampstands, that is, the churches in Asia, as John witnessed in 1:20. It is a reminder of the unseen presence of Christ among the churches, and almost as if he is doing an inspection t...

God hears simple prayers, for his Spirit searched our hearts and brings them to God (Romans 8:26). But, as we grow as disciples, we should mature in prayer.  Our prayers should still have a child-like devotion, but the content of our praye...

On one hand, the headlines of our day, on the other, the book of Revelation.  Two worlds, as different as a hare-brained dictator and a seven-headed monster, as a terrorist's bomb and a bowl of wrath. How can one world speak to the other?&...

Scripture: I Corinthians 4:1-5

Scripture: Jude 20-23

Scripture: Acts 9:32-43

Scripture: Malachi 1:1-5

Wealth presents substantial dangers for us all. And, lest we think we don’t have to worry about that, compared with the rest of the world, the poorest among us would be considered wealthy. And often, it is the kind of lifestyle that comes along...

It’s easy to recognize the presence of God when things are going well: the sun is shining, you have plenty of money in the bank, you’re healthy. But what about cloudy days, when the doctor brings bad news, or relationships seem to be coming apa...

“Watch your mouth!” Did your parents ever have to say that to you? Maybe you said something hurtful or sinful. In the 9th commandment, God says: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16). “False testimony” is no...

The last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at Joseph the dreamer. Despite being able to interpret the dreams Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker, his own dreams had been seemingly dashed. Then, upon interpreting Pharaoh’s dream and giving a solution...

God brings a lawsuit against his people. At the heart of it is idolatry, but the idolatry expresses itself in greed and theft, a breaking of the 8th commandment. God’s call to repent in Micah 6 involves two things. Paul summarizes them well in ...

As we’ve followed the life of Joseph, we’ve seen that God gave him big dreams, set him aside for His purposes. But Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. The question hangs out there at this point in the story: are his dreams dashed?...

What were once sexually deviant views have become mainstream. Ethics teachers will tell you that sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage is not wrong as long as it involves two consenting adults and as long as no one gets hurt. Even among...

If Abraham’s life was marked by faith (in experiencing God) and Jacob’s by the “scandal of grace” (God’s grace), then Joseph’s story is about dreaming and the realization of those dreams. Joseph’s life seems a living illustration of Romans 8:28...

By age 16, a child has seen well over 30,000 murders on television or in the movies, and no telling how many as a participant in video games! Have they, have we, become callous to killing? What does it mean in the 21st century: you shall not ki...

Jacob heads back to Canaan, coming face-to-face with his brother Esau and re-settling in the promised land, part of the covenant promise. Over three chapters about Jacob’s messy family, we can learn some lessons: From Jacob and his family, we c...

Paul has been talking to the Ephesians about relationships in people’s lives, starting with a marriage relationship and ending with one’s work (slave-master!) relationship. He notes that both are two-sided. In between, he turns to the relations...